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In Space, No One Can Hear You Gentrify Part 2: Mysterious Mysteries
Midoran Asteroid Field - Milky Way The endless void of space stretches all around you, glittering with a backdrop of stars... Last time on The Transformers... The Decepticons chose a massive asteroid as a site for their new super weapon, and sent Bonecrusher and Blitzwing to clear the rock for construction. However, the Autobot Fathom determined that the asteroid, home to a mysterious ruined city, was too valuable and led a strike team to stop the Decepticons. Now, the Autobots explore the ruins to find out what mysteries and secrets they hold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmVnhQvMV6U Hot Spot mans the controls as the small Autobot science vessel 'Hypothesis' sets down on the asteroid, a short distance from the mysterious ruins. He stands as the ramp opens, bursts of air clouding from various hydraulic mechanisms. He gives Fathom a nod. "It's your show out there. Happy to be of service." Fathom has all of his proper gear finally, and he's waiting at the airlift fidgeting like a jack russell until Hot Spot opens the hatch. Too excited for words, he just nods estatically at Hot Spot and dives out onto the asteroid surface. "C'mon Torque ma'am! Apocryphacius!" Apocryphacius has been politely asked to hold the surveying tripod. Judgement would like a chance to talk to Fathom without everyone else around, but at the same time, talking alone with a Quintesson doesn't look that great. In any case... he supposes he'd rather have Torque and Hot Spot here than Sandstorm. He's pretty sure they don't eat babies. Toting the tripod, he heads off. Why is Torque here? Well why not! This is an Operations.. operation so she's more than happy to assist. Plus, it helps to have some muscle along for these types of trips. "Thanks for piloting us here, Hot Spot." The femme beams at the Protectobot leader before heading out behind Apocryphacius and Fathom, amused at the latter's excitement. "So what sort've race do you think used to live here, Fathom? I figure you picked up something when you were here the first time." Now that the distraction of fighting Blitzwing and a talking bulldozer is gone, there are some things about the ruins that jump out quickly: they are obviously old buildings- was this place some kind of city? The scale of the place is comparable to an average sized Cybertronian, and it looks as though the 'city' plan was a series of rings. Hot Spot stands in the rear of the group, loading his fireball cannon. All is quiet now, but if something bad WERE to happen... Always prepared. The unofficial 8th A of being an Autobot. Hanging back, he offers his expert opinion to Fathom. "This whole place was burned." "Do you know how to work a theodolite, Apocryphacius?" Fathom jogs along without slowing down, flipping through what seems to be an actual book rather than a datapad, though it's obviously built for Cybertronian hands. "Whatever they were, they were about our size," he says to Torque, moving to follow the contour of a ring. "Burned? Well that's really going to screw up the carbon dating," he huffs. Combat: Judgement compares his Technical to 70: Success! "Well that's good, I guess. Means it'll be a lot easier to look around instead of squeezing into stuff." Torque smirks and breaks off from the group a few yards to investigate some of the buildings. "Just be careful of any weak looking structures, yeah? We don't need anyone falling through any floors." She notes while approaching one charred building in particular, chest lights flicking on to light up any dark spots when peeking inside and moving in. "Oh yes, of course," Apocryphacius answers Fathom, peering at the ruins. "Which measurements do you want?" Rumble has arrived. "I'm certain you'll be there to catch us, Torque ma'am," Fathom grins and follows, pausing first to reply to Paco, "All!" Surely he can handle that. Fathom is told Paco is impossibly smart. Once inside, he goes silent, emitting a noise only finely tuned audials can pick up. "Nothing is alive out here, I can say that..." Torque's light flashes across a pair of eyes, a screaming mouth. A sword pointed towards the Autobot mechanic. The ash turned rock remains of a humanoid, standing over a fallen comrade in simliar garb. Statues locked eternally in their death, much like Earth's Pompeii. Fathom's assertion about life on this rock seems correct. Rumble sneaks some distance behind the group. Eventually, he ventures closer, until he's able to transform and hide his tiny little tape self right on Hot Spot's armor, in an unobtrusive place. Rumble folds over and actually shrinks in size to become a tiny cassette tape. Judgement squints at the statues, and he deadpans, "If these are Rock Lords, we are doomed." However, he is well started on measuring all of the angles, all of them, and he's using the measurements to generate a CAD drawing of the complex as he goes. "Who'd wanna stick around burned out ruins anywa-AGH!" Torque turns to survey the other side of the room, only to come face to face with an enemy! Antennas shoots straight up while taking a step back, but... they're not attacking? Wait no.. they're not even alive. After a moment she eases her guard and frowns, stepping forward to carefully observe the remains. "This isn't good... Hot Spot, what do you make of this? Flash fire? Couldn't be staying upright and perfect like this if it wasn't something instant." "Rock Lords?" Fathom eyes Paco, then jerks in surprise when he spots the humanoid rock figure. "Incredible! Preserved where they died... We must bring it back! Come, help me!" Fathom appears quite serious about pulling this unfortunate soul from the ground in its entirety. As Paco scans, the CAD generation gradually reveals what could be described as a castle design: A spiral of fortifications, leading to a central structure. The structure they're standing in is only one of about 20-30. Hot Spot, oblivious to his new blue accessory, steps behind Torque, leaning forward to glance inside. "Your instincts are right on. These...people died instantly in tremendous temperatures." When Fathom investigates freeing the mystery man, he finds that the body crumbles easily. Judgement comments dispassionately, "Pompeii." Eh-oo, eh-oo... "Are you sure you want to move the bodies? I am certain that you Autobots would be offended if archaeologists if *this* species broke into your mausoleum and stole the corpses from their tombs." He keeps on scanning the architecture. All the angles. All of them. Fathom smacks his palm to his brow when the figure partially crumbles. "Well... I'm certain this isn't a mausoleum or tomb." Damn right he's taking some of the crumbly bits in a bag. Just as oblivious as Hot Spot about their little spy, he moves through the rest of the building, a visor drawn over his optics. Purple Cassette observes the Autobots, as he can't do much of anything else in this mode. (What a buncha crap,) he thinks to himself. (If it were me, I'd loot the heck outta this place. There's gotta be some loot around here. Well, if the Autojerks just come in to pick up rock corpses, then I'll just come back here an' take the things that are actually WORTH somethin'.) Torque rubs her chin in thought. "I figured as much.." It's a shame the bodies aren't able to hold up either, which she notes when it starts to crumble from Fathom. "Not sure that's a good idea, they wouldn't make it back to the ship in one piece. We'll just have to take samples and photos for the time being." Which she starts doing right now as Fathom collects, the femme taking a recording device from subspace to snap some shots of the figures before tailing after the others. "I wonder if it's possible to find out where the blast came from. A bomb, maybe?" As Fathom explores, he'll recognize this building for what any soldier would see it as: an armory. Derelict weapons line the walls, most petrified just like the two soldiers. A staircase leads to a battlement on the second floor, and a third body lies dead on the stairs, clutching what looks like a lance, though the handle includes a trigger, like a rifle. Paco will notice from his readings that most of the structures in the spiral are identical to this one, with the exception of a few, including the central structure, which is the largest of the ruins by far. As for Torque's line of questioning, it doesn't look like the source of...well, whatever caused this, can be found inside the structure. Hot Spot gives Paco a solemn nod. "Well said, Quintesson. We should respect these fallen warriors." Fathom kneels beside the third body to take another sample, hopefully without doing /too/ much damage. As much as he'd like to take the weapons, they'll simply crumble like everything else, and it sounds like the rest of the team doesn't like to disturb things. Hrrrn. Wordlessly, he moves upstairs, then pauses. "This might be structurally unsound..." Judgement looks sidelong at Hot Spot, and he continues, voice deceptively light, "It may not be a tomb... or it may be. Maybe it was the way of their culture to stand up bodies in interesting poses and then flash-ash them. In any case... were Mt. St. Hillary to explode and entomb the Autobots on Ark duty... would you want strangers to take their bodies away?" <'Autobot'> Elita One hrmmms. Torque definitely takes note of the weapons. "Well, at least we know they weren't a completely peaceful race." When Fathom stops, so does she, nearly bumping into the mech. "Wouldn't be a surprise, the fire oculd have definitely weakened something. Here, let me go ahead." Why? Because she knows a thing or two about buildings, it lighter than Hot Spot (sorry hot spot), and has a built in safety line. "Spot, hold onto me, alright?" Torque unspools some of her line and tosses the hook end to the Protectobot before sidling past Fathom and Paco on the steps to attempt to scale the stairs further at a careful pace. Purple Cassette observes and records. He doesn't enjoy doing this nearly as much as Buzzsaw does, but sometimes, it must be done in order to stay one step ahead of Autobot plans. (This place looks like a dump, why are they so interested in it? If they find anything cool, maybe I'll rob 'em,) he ponders. Hot Spot does so, using his powerful, sturdy, and reliable shoulders to anchor the mechanic's climb. Once at the top, Torque finds herself on a rooftop battlement. There are six more bodies, also flashed fried. All of the dead are facing inward. Fathom will notice with the higher view that most of the structures are in the same shape, littered with fallen soldiers. Judgement has all the angles he can obtain right now. He hesitantly follows after Fathom, and he asks, "May I have a sample of the ash? I want to run a chemical analysis of it. I doubt anything like DNA will be intact, after all this, but... it could be?" Judgement transforms into his Apocryphacius mode. <'NEST'> Apocryphacius says, "Check 1 2 3" <'NEST'> Punch says, "Loud and clear." Purple Cassette inwardly smirks to himself. ('Can I have a sample of the ash? I want to analyze it.' -- Whatta Nerd!) "Well, I'm hoping." Fathom hands Paco his sample bag and keeps close to Torque as she heads upstairs. More bodies. "I don't think we need more samples." Belatedly, he responds to Paco's point about kidnapping bodies. "What we do here is all to learn their story. The universe will forget them way out here, untouched, but we'll remember it. It's not by greed we take from sites..." Though he seems troubled by the accusation. "I wonder why they're facing that way." He peers across the landscape. "Same buildings." As shown on Paco's readings, the roof provides an excellent view of the large, pyramid shaped central structure. Where as most of the ruins look like they were simply petrified with fire, it looks like a bomb went off inside. Torque is glad she doesn't fall, because that really wouldn't have made her day. Once she's at the top she gives the all clear and moves out onto the roof, a hand aboe her optics to survey the city. "Do you think they were fighting a battle when this happened?" She looks to the others, uncertainty on her face. "Not seeing any other bodies that'd suggest an invasion from another race, so maybe it was a civil war of some type." Looking back out, Torque spys the pyramid and hmms to herself before looking to Fathom. "Think we should head out that way? You're the one leading this thing." Apocryphacius reports, "The ash shows a heavy prescence of substances similar to napalm and thermite, but... your own records are not complete. Maybe whoever lived here moved somewhere else and they teach whatever happened here in their history books." He makes a shrugging gesture. He isn't trying to upset Fathom. It's just... these issues need to at least be discussed. "Maybe," Fathom murmurs in response to Torque. There's a barely audible click from his visor as he takes pictures. "Napalm and thermite huh. Yeah, this probably wasn't a natural disaster..." Paco doesn't exactly draw ire. Fathom looks at him if he's trying to fix a typo. "I truly hope they still exist somewhere. Though I'm beginning to doubt it." His visor flips up and he moves to head back downstairs and outside. "Sure, let's head to the center." "It's a big Universe, Apocryphacius..." Hot Spot keeps an optic on the Autobots on the roof, ready to throw up a forcefield at a moment's notice. "And anything is possible, even honorable arson. Still..." He shakes his head, looking around. "This place...it feels violent. Gut feelings aren't eh most scientific thing in the world, but... I think these poor souls died painfully." On Fathom's say so, Hot Spot takes point to lead the group to the center building. No one notices Rumble because cartoons. As the group walks they find more soldiers, also dead. The aliens look simliar to the standard 'Grey,' though their helmets and armor would almost recall Roman design. The question remained: Who were these space Centurions? And why were they all dead? Apocryphacius really isn't sure how stable these structures are, and he's sort of a coward, so he decides, "I am going to go back to the ship to do a more exhaustive chemical analysis. Do be careful, all of you." He will foprward any chemical findings to the Autobots remotely. (Essentially, he'll text them.) Purple Cassette is just one amazing spy, that's all there is to it. He does like the look of the dead soldiers, though. They bring to mind one of his favorite fighting movies. "Good luck Apocryphacius, keep us updated." Fathom remains behind Hot Spot like a good soldier, taking note of the style of armor as they pass through the wasteland of ash. "No doubt," he says in regards to a painful death. The massive pyramid is a wreck, but even if it had been in decent shape, it's striking how out of place it seems to the rest of the architecture. Gaping holes big enough to toss a Fort Max through cover the structure. There are smashed and overturned vehicles dotting the area. Artillery? All facing the pyramid. Hot Spot clicks the safety off of his fireball cannon- and a responsible gun owner keeps that safety on unless he intends to use his weapon. "Inside, Fathom?" "Yep, let's go." Fathom studies the weaponry pointing at the central structure. "...Perhaps these people were attacking whatever came /out/ of the pyramid. Though if it was a bomb... Perhaps not an explosive then, or not itself one. Those holes are massive. Maybe it's not just one entity. Keep on your guard, Torque ma'am." Purple Cassette is still tagging along, maglocked to the side of Hot Spot. "I don't like the look of this place.." Torque mutters under her breath as they near the pyramid, eyeing both the structure and the weaponry outside it, the latter in particular drawing her attention the most. She's curious to try and crack them open, get a look at the tech, but decides against it and keeps with the others. "Don't worry about me." She smirks to Fathom. "I can hold my own, you just try not to go wandering off after something." Hot Spot leads the way, moving slowly into the ruined structure. Just past the entrance, there is a body, flash fried like the rest, but unlike the others, not wearing armor. This one could easily be in some sort of robe. He is holding what looks like some kind of writing utensil, pressed against the wall. In the center of the room, Everything changes. There is a larger silver sphere, un burned, unmarked. In fact, it almost looks like it's emitting light, but that could simply be the effect of something so pristine sitting around so much soot covered death. There is a single 'space centurion' draped over the sphere, kneeling face first. Purple Cassette is about to go into a rest cycle because these nerds are so completely boring, but -- but THEN, WHOAH. Everything changes, for real. What's this robed guy? What's this sphere? He waits to see if they're dangerous -- if the Autojerks get fried trying to touch them, then...he will just avoid doing that. Fathom's optics widen. He rushes closer with very little caution, a smile forming. "Wow," the vents faintly, taking several pictures and scanning the words into files proper. "Omni mortux," he reads aloud. "Find anything Torque?" Spot's portable Teletraan dings to life. "Foreign language detected. Scanning." The Protectobot shrugs. "Handy little thing, isn't it." "Scanning. Scanning." "Scanning. Scanning." "Scanning. Scanning." "Scanning. Scanning." "Scanning. Scanning." "Scanning. Scanning." "Translation complete." "Omni Mortux." "All Are Dead." "...Yeah, I found something alright." Torque says in awe as they enter the structure, her optics instantly zeroing in on the sphere. Cautiously she steps forward towards it, being careful not to touch anything just yet. "Looks like we've got an intact body here, completely untouched. ..I wonder if this sphere protected him.. He looks pretty important though, if the design of his armor means anything. I'm not too keen on taking bodies from places, but.. Hm?" The femme squints and leans in, noting a bit of writing on the sphere itself. "..There's something underneath him. Stay alert, I'm going to move him to see what it is." And very, VERY carefully Torque uses her skilled medic's touch to try and shift the body without damaging it. "Foreign language detected. Scanning." "Scanning. Scanning." "Scanning. Scanning." "Translation complete." "ULTIOFERAX." "Translation not found. More resources required." Hot Spot shrugs. "And not so handy other times. Fathom, what do you think? Take our unburned friend and the sphere to Iacon? We can't let the Decepticons get their hands on it, whether it's to use or just bulldoze again. Not until we know what it is." He looks around. "And this is clearly not the most defensible position." (Maybe that thing's a weapon!) Rumble thinks to himself. (To heck with alla this 'Accio Underpants' magic spell translation crap. I gotta get that weapon back to Soundwave, cause obviously, it fried everything around this dump!) Fathom is beside himself with excitement that he tries to tone down. He's also pretty pumped that his officers are letting him call the shots. "Good observations Torque." He nods once to Hot Spot and moves to help the femme. "If neither of you believe we'll invoke a curse," it's clear this archaeologist doesn't buy into such things, "Then yes, let's get them back to the shuttle. As carefully as we can manage." "Ultioferax? Strange..." Torque mumbles at the text as Hot Spot's device translates. "It'd be nice to bring the body back. The sphere, however, I'm unsure about. If this was the thing that burned this city then we should at least quarantine it." At the order to start moving things, the medic nods and gets to work preping the body for transport first. Hot Spot folds into his rescue engine mode so that the body and sphere can be loaded on top. Several ladders lower to serve as a ramp. Hot Spot transforms into a powerful RESCUE ENGINE! Climbing the highest mountain begins with a single step! As Hot Spot begins to transform to vehicular mode, Rumble uses his large frame as a cover to escape into darkness himself. He unlocks the magnetic force, transforms, and quickly runs back into the shadows.